Protective article of manufacture



April 27, 1937. R. A. FARNHAM I i 2,078,488

PROTECTIVE ARTICLE OF MANUFACTURE Filed April 3, 1936 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

Patented Apr. 27, 1937 This invention relates to "a classof articles which canjbe styled'as comprising protective de- I I vices for fragile articles. Specific "examples of such devices are v flats and holders for packaging and protecting eggs pads to line the sides of car- I tons, protectors for electric light' fbulbSQ radio tubes, etc., flats, trays, holders and;protecto rs for bottles. Numerous other sucharticles areknown to those experiencedinthe art. I V g 10 Inparticular, theobject of'the resentinven- 'tion is to devise an article o'fjthe class described which may be divided into a plurality of sections with a minimum of effort and rislrof destruction, but which is suiiiciently rigid to be manufactured, sold and used in astandard size comprising 'a plurality of separable sections. NPaitibular'uss for the invention are as follows: 1. Egg protectors are usually desired in a size capable of protecting one dozen eggs. -With;the 2 present invention-a protector for holding one dozen eggs is provided-which can be separated into two protectors, each capable of protecting six eggs, thereby providing the egg dealer with tohimlq I ;2. Pads for lining the insides. of'car-tonsare usuallynof a specified size, for instance, ,oifiasize to fltsnugly against one wall of a carton capable 30 ofholding one dozen bulbs'to be protected. .With the present invention such a pad may be; supplied which is, nevertheless, capable of being separated into a pluralitypf sections,"e'ach 'ofa size to line the wall of a carton capable of holding a smaller number of bulbs. .A Q g.

3. Other protective articles of any sort desired may be so divided, the above-examples being'illus trative and not by way of limitation; and it is apparent that the: invention can be applied in 0 such-a manner asto provide anarticle capable of separation into-morethantwosmaller articles.

45 or other mechanism-to produce' vario'ussizes of scale; and

both sizes in the one lot whichmay be supplied" in connection with the accompanying claims and the drawing wherein Ililcefnumerals rere t like parts throughout;

Referring. to the arm there is illustrated 1 the following:

Fig. 1 is a plan view ofthe type of egg protector 5 fully disclosed and claimed in the patentto Morris 'Koppelman, No. 1,746,838, issued February 11,

1930, having the present invention applied I I thereto;

i Fig. 2 is a plan view of atype of egg protector 10 similar to that disclosed and claimed" in the patent to John Harvy Pi'dkethNor '1",967,040, dated I July- 17, I934,.hav i n 'g-the present inventionap- "the present invention applied thereto;

is a partialcrdss-sectiori taken on line." H of Fig, 3 and showing cletail'so'n an enlarged Fig; 5 is a view in perspective of anarticle made in accordance "with the present invention,

showing its utility and advantages whenin'use.

' The articles to which the presentinvention is applied are articles-made from fibrous materials,

V such as ground wood reclaimed newspapers, 'etc.,

which are usually moulded on foraminous moulds, usually, bya suction process on machines such,

as disclosed in the patent to Ellis 0. Healy, No.

1,967,361, dated July '24, 1934, The method of incorporating my improvement into the articles and'theapparatusffor performing the same are disclosed in my copen 'n'gapplication, filed of "even'date herewithp-L The process 1 of 1 moulding such articles comthe surfaceof'the mould. Thea'rticles-are then removedfrom the mould and'subjected to the action- "or 'heat, (other "steps possibly being performed as is well known in the art) whereby a,

relatively dry, w completed article is produced,

The -use "of" 'the 'equipment 'described and claimed in my" aforesaid pending application resultsj in the production'of an article having the 'bbje'cts and advantages above de'scribed, the

, article provided with weakenedareas along which a the article may beseparated, the weakened areas 7 comprising portions capable'of permitting the I desired results;

tector disclosed in Patent No. 1,746,838, in which opposed pockets II are provided in pairs, each pair designed to hold an egg. The article as manufactured comprises two sections, l2 and i3, of similar nature, capable of being separated from each other along a line of weakened areas II. It is, of course, to be appreciated that the weakened areas |4 could be contiguous across the article, but I prefer spacing separate weakened areas by non-weakened areas of such small extent that the division of the article into sections is not hindered, but suflicient in extent to brace the article when used in; non-separated form. The edge of the article may be provided with notches l5 and openings IS in line with the weakened areas i4 which would make the tearing of the article into two parts easier to accomplish and which would result in opposite ends of the two parts being substantially similar in appearance. 1 1

Fig. 2 discloses at the type of holder found in Patent No. 1,967,040, provided with pockets 2| .infour rows of pockets. The article is adapted to fold upon itself whereby to bring the first and second rows into complementary relation with the fourth and third rows, respectively, each complementing pair of pockets being designed to protect an egg. 'The article is capable of use, as shown, to protect a dozen eggs, but may be .divided into sections of similar nature, 22 and 23,

by separating the same along the line of weakened areas 24. i

. Fig. 3, shows at. 30 a carton pad consisting of r a generally planiform sheet provided with proened areas along, more than one edge. It is also to be observed in the views that each article can be divided by a continuous weakened area, but that each article is preferably formed-with spaced, weakened areas for the purpose described in connection with areas H of Fig. l. A further point of similarity is that the weakened areas preferably extend'to notches 25 at the edge of the article, so that the pointat which tearing would begin, were the-article tobe divided, is

weaker than the immediately adjacent portions of the edge of the article, and may be'provided with an opening 26 in order that opposite ends of the two sectionswould be similar.

Fig. 4 is aview taken on line 4--4 of'Fig. 3 ,(which is, of course,identical to views which could .be takenacross the weakened areas I4 of Fig. l or the weakened areas 24 of Fig.2) -and showing the weakened areas 34 in enlarged crosssection. In this view of -the article is shownas comprising felted, fibrous material) of substantially uniform thickness: throughout. The weakenedarea 34 comprises felted fibres. formed into a relatively thin layer 4,| extending between the sections 32 and 33 at one side of the article.

In the preferred form'as illustrated, projections of felted fibres 42 extend from the other side of the article, forming between themselvesand the layer 4| a slot or groove 43 extending substam tiallythe-thickness of the article. The method prior art practices. weaken articles by compressing the fibres as'by of forming the articles is such that the main body of the article is necessarily formed of felted fibres 44 interlaced into a sheet of substantially uniform density. The uniform density of formation is preserved throughout the layer 4| and the extensions 42, whereby the advantages of my invention are achieved.

Fig. 5 illustrates one manner in which the article l0 of Fig. 1 may be used. The article In is folded into w-shape, eggs are inserted into the pockets, and the loaded article is inserted lengthwise into a sleeve 50. The sleeve is representative and the article may be placed in other types of wrappers, cartons, or the like, each designed snugly to hold the article and the enclosed eggs. The result is a package of protected eggs which may be sold as a unit. However, it is common throughout the trade to provide sleeves, cartons, etc., with a line of perforations encircling the carton, sleeve, etc., as at 52. In this manner the sleeve, carton, etc., may be broken into two parts, each designed toreceive smaller holders and .half a dozen eggs. Heretofore the smaller holders were supplied in complete form with the attendant disadvantages noted above. With my' invention the package may be grasped at its end and broken into completed packages, preferably, over the edge of a table 5.|, as illustrated. If preferred, the article may be separated into its component sections before it is placed in the holder or sleeve. Any

article made in accordance with my invention may be separated into its parts by tearing it from edge'to edge, or by breaking it as illustrated. The weakened areas likewise provide a guide for bendingthe'article so that an article such as illustrated in Fig. 3 may readily be bent into angular shape toprotect more than one wall of a carton.

The invention presents great advantages over It has been attempted to rolling or stamping; This method not only required separate manipulation and mechanism, but resulted in frequent failures, since the compressed areas had the same, or possibly greater, strength as the body of the article, and the sections would not separate as desired. The present invention achieves the object since the layer 4| is of the same density, but thinner than the body of the article. It was likewise attempted to score the articles by means of an abrading, cut- "ting, or perforating action- These methods likewise required additional handling and equipment and it was found thatthe depths of penetration, and the rigidity of the article when used as a whole, could not becontrolled. -In the present invention, the necessary result of its manufacture is that the layer 4| is of substantially uniform fibre strength, density and thickness. A further advantage which can be obtained and is pre- ,sleeve is not requiredin order that the pacakage may be broken into two parts. It is observed that the weakened areas l4 may be as much as one half of an inch' out of line with the perforations 52 when the package is broken as described.

The illustrations of articles to which my in- 'vention is applied are obviously not to be taken as limiting the scope of my invention, since the 5 same may be applied to numerous other articles known to those skilled in the art. Various modi- .fications in construction and arrangement will readily suggest themselves to the skilled artisan and I do not intend to be limited to the present 10 disclosure except in so far as required by the scope of the following claims.

I claim: 1. A protective article of manufacture of substantially uniform thickness made 01 felted, l5 fibrous material, comprising a plurality of sections of similar nature adapted to be separated from each other, the sections being defined on at least one edge by a weakened area in the article, said area comprising felted fibers forming 20 a relatively thin layer of the same density as the sections extending between sections at one side of the article, and fibrous projections extending from the opposite side of the article along opposed edges of said weakened areas whereby par tially to brace said article against bending stresses. 6

2. A protective article of manufacture of substantially uniform thickness made of felted, fibrous material, comprising a plurality 01' sections of similar nature adapted to be separated from each other, the sections being defined on 10 at least one edge by a line of spaced, weakened areas in the article, said areas comprising i'elted fibers forming a relatively thin layer of the same density as the sections extending between sections at one side of the article, and fibrous pro- 16 jections extending from the opposite side of the article along opposed edges of said weakened areas, each pair of said projections and the interposed layer deflning a groove extending at least partially through the plane of the article. 20

RALPH A. FARNHAM. 

